German Catholic philosopher Josef Pieper opens his essay “Leisure: The Basis of Culture” with these two quotations:
But the Gods, taking pity on mankind, born to work, laid down the succession of recurring Feasts to restore them from their fatigue, and gave them the Muses, and Apollo their leader, and Dionysus, as companions in their Feasts, so that nourishing themselves in festive companionship with the Gods, they should again stand upright and erect.
-Plato
Have leisure and know that I am God.
-Psalm lxv, 11.
Many thanks to a colleague for reminding me of this book containing Pieper’s essays. Forward by T.S. Eliot.
